La Mola hosts the exhibition The Journey to the Spice of Magellan and Elcano

The Hornabeque Room of the Isabel II Fortress in La Mola hosts until September 13 the exhibition The Journey to the Spice of Magallanes and Elcano, organized by the General Technical Secretariat of the Ministry of Defense, through the General Sub-Directorate of Publications and Cultural Heritage, in order to contribute to the commemoration of the V anniversary of the first round the world.

The aim of this exhibition is to offer the viewer a complete chronological vision of the trip, with texts and images alluding to each of its most important stages and its protagonists through seven key moments with the following headings: El mundo de Magallanes, el origen del journey, the Castilian Navy, in search of passage, the immense Pacific, success and, finally, Juan Sebastián Elcano.

It is important to remember that last year was the fifth centenary of the beginning of this naval expedition promoted by the Crown of Spain and initially captained by the Portuguese navigator at the service of the Spanish Crown, Fernando de Magallanes, with the purpose of opening a new route to the islands of spices. Appointed by King Carlos I of Spain “governor, advanced, captain general of the Navy for the discovery of spice”, in the Capitulations of Valladolid, in 1518, Magellan left Seville on August 10, 1519.

This naval company, which required enormous tenacity and effort to overcome multiple penalties, led three years later to complete the feat of the first round the world, finally culminated thanks to the courage, courage, seamanship and vision of Juan Sebastián de Elcano who returned to Seville on September 6, 1522. The culmination of this great epic would have application and significance in various fields, such as scientific, political, commercial, social and / or cultural since it was a decisive scientific advance by confirming the roundness of the Earth.

The purpose of the expedition was to search for a strait on the southern coast of the American continent to reach the islands of La Especiería, which is the name given to the current Moluccas Islands. For this reason the title alludes to the initial purpose of the expedition.